Washington’s grand strategy on the Palestinian issue remains unclear, as does its understanding of the players involved, especially Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007. This is causing considerable anxiety in Jerusalem.

These questions have gained pertinence and urgency following a series of interviews that Donald Trump’s new “hostage envoy,” Adam Boehler, gave to American and Israeli media platforms. Over recent weeks, Boehler has directly negotiated a possible new hostage–prisoner exchange deal with Hamas—at Trump’s behest, but apparently behind Israel’s back. “We are not an agent of Israel. We have specific [American] interests at play,” he stated, apparently in reference to the American/Israeli dual citizens who were among those taken hostage by Hamas in its 7 October 2023 assault on southern Israel and who remain in captivity—whether dead or alive—in tunnels in the Gaza Strip. Officials in Israel are troubled by the thought that Washington may be seeking the separate release of American hostages alone, rather than negotiating a deal that encompasses all those held in Hamas captivity.

But Israel’s irritation about the interviews was more general than this. Boehler has opined of Hamas that, “They don’t have horns growing out of their head. They’re actually guys like us. They’re pretty nice guys.” After this unsurprisingly ruffled feathers in Jerusalem, Washington immediately issued a correction: “They are definitely bad guys.” But Boehler then predicted that Hamas will soon disarm and “fade away” from the Gaza Strip—an idea that is completely divorced from reality. On the contrary, over the past months, Hamas appears to have recovered militarily and is clearly in control of Gaza’s civilian population. In his interviews, Boehler even got the hostage/prisoner terminology backwards: repeatedly calling the Palestinians held in Israel’s prisons—most of whom are convicted terrorists, including mass murderers—“hostages,” while designating the Israelis languishing in Gaza’s tunnels, most of whom are civilians, “prisoners.”

The US government, along with the European community, has long defined Hamas as a terrorist organisation and Trump has repeatedly said that it needs to be eradicated. Is this still Washington’s position? Or is Hamas now an acceptable negotiating partner and a legitimate partner in the future governance of Gaza? And if so, could Hamas also be seen as a legitimate party that might eventually govern the West Bank, a region that, in the past, Trump has hinted should come under Israeli rule? Washington’s policy on the Palestinian issue may be in real flux, and Israel’s right-wing leaders are deeply concerned.